Actor Michael Douglas. Photo: Today.

JNS.org – Actor Michael Douglas—who identifies as a Reform Jew and whose father, fellow actor Kirk Douglas, is Jewish—will appear as a special guest at the Jerusalem Post newspaper’s annual conference in New York City on May 22.

Douglas, a past winner of the Genesis Prize, which has been dubbed the “Jewish Nobel Prize,” will be interviewed on stage by former Jerusalem Posteditor in chief Steve Linde.

Douglas, 71, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and recently joined Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky on a tour of three American college campuses. Douglas and Sharansky used the tour to speak out against anti-Semitism and the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

“At a time when the academic community and other forces are making sustained efforts to delegitimize Israel, the campus visits are particularly important and timely,” said Stan Polovets, co-founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation.

In his acceptance speech for the Genesis Prize last year, Douglas said, “I am a Jew. Those are four words of pride. My Jewishness is as deep as my genes.”

“I’m not focusing on the religious front. I’m talking about Jewish values, cultural issues, community and being welcomed,” Douglas told the Jerusalem Post last year.